


Penguins Do It, Too

by yuletide_archivist



Category: The OC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-12-22
Updated: 2003-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-25 05:03:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1632938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Do you really think people can meet the love of their life at sixteen?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Penguins Do It, Too

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Erin

 

 

Title: Penguins Do It, Too 

Fandom: The O.C. 

Pairing: Seth/Ryan 

Rating: PG 

Category: Schmoopy futurefic 

Summary: 'Do you really think people can meet the love of their life at sixteen?' 

Notes: This addresses the problem that I find myself having with The O.C: if Ryan and Seth admit how they feel about each other in high school, will their relationship be able to stand the test of time? 

Disclaimer: I don't own the boys. Molly's mine, but if Josh Schwartz wants her, I'm willing to share. 

* 

San Francisco - January, 2009 

"OK, team. Thanks for all your work. I think we're ready to roll on this one." Ryan's boss, Stephen Baxter, stood up and stretched. "Everybody go home and have a good night. I'll see you all at the party tomorrow night. Like always, it's nothing fancy, just a barbeque at my place. It'll give us all a chance to unwind, and get to know our new interns." 

Stephen's partner, Mark Taylor, smiled over at the part of the boardroom table where Ryan was sitting beside the other intern, Molly. "Remember, we want you guys to bring your significant others, too. Whatever incarnation they may take." 

Ah, the joys of working for a San Francisco firm. Mark had probably seen it all. Twice. After four years in the Bay area, Ryan was feeling pretty seasoned himself. Last weekend he and Seth had seen a man buying groceries on stilts, wearing only a jock. Black leather, of course. And they were nowhere near Pride, which was when all the really fun people came out. 

It was his last year in the architecture program at Berkeley, and the program required that one of his terms be an internship. Kirsten had offered to get him a placement with one of the many architects that she dealt with, and while they were some of the best architecture firms in California, Ryan had wanted to do it on his own. He'd scouted out several companies, and interviewed with a lot of them. Being close to the top of his class helped: those evenings spent in the library instead of at a kegger meant that he'd pretty much had the pick of any firm he liked. 

Baxter, Taylor and Associates was a smaller shop, but it had been doing amazing work, and he'd been guaranteed a lot of time with the partners themselves. He and Molly were the only interns, and they got their own office, complete with drafting tables and a lot of natural light, which was something Ryan had taken into consideration, since a lot of the firms in San Francisco barely had cubicles for their interns. And since the commute from Berkeley wasn't that long, Seth could drop Ryan off at work on days that he wanted to use the Jeep they shared. 

Molly fell in step with him as they walked back to their office. "So, you bringing someone to the party?" 

Ryan slid her sideways glance. He hadn't really had a chance to talk to her all week, as they'd struggled to situate themselves in their new positions, and figure out what was expected of them. He knew that she came from UCLA, and had grown up in Brentwood. She'd decided to look for internships in San Francisco for a change of pace, and her favourite colour was green. And he only knew the last bit because of some teambuilding exercises they'd done on Monday. 

"Yeah. You?" 

"No, I haven't really had a chance to meet anybody yet. I just joined a gym, so I'm hoping that will, you know, get me out. Give me a chance to make some new friends. Although with the amount it seems that we're going to be working, I'm not sure that I'll have much of a chance to really socialize." 

"Must be hard to settle into a new place." He'd never had to do that alone, he realized. Theresa had always been there when he started school, and when he'd moved to Newport, there had been Seth. Even on the very first day in the Cohen house, Seth had been with him. 

"Yeah, it is. We never moved much, well, at all, really, when I was a kid, and then I lived like twenty minutes from home during college, so this has been an adjustment. So who are you bringing to the party?" 

He looked her over again. She seemed cool, and if she couldn't deal with what Seth liked to call their Big Gay Love, then it'd be better to know now. "My boyfriend." 

Molly looked a little surprised. "Oh. Wow. I didn't know." She grinned. "I guess you hate hearing stuff like, 'My best friend is gay,' right? My brother hates it, anyway." 

He relaxed a little. It wasn't that he gave a damn what people thought, but he liked to be prepared for the worst. And when you came out, sometimes the worst could be pretty bad. So he'd found it best to keep his guard up, even in San Francisco. "Your brother is gay?" 

"No, he just hates hearing that." She laughed. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it! Yeah, he's been out for about ten years now. He came out in high school, which was kind of tough, but we went to a private school, so it was a little better than it could have been. I'm sorry, I talk a lot. I'll stop." 

She did talk a lot, but, well, Ryan tended to like people who did that. "No worries." 

They walked into their office and Ryan sat down at his desk, and started looking over the drawings he'd been given to work on at the meeting. Molly did the same, but kept chatting. "So how long have you been together?" 

Ryan had grown to hate that question. Two years ago, even last year, it had been fine. But lately it generally became a thing. 

"Four years." 

Molly just raised her eyebrows. "Impressive." 

All right, it usually became a thing. Because it was followed with something like, "Huh. That's a long time." And then, at some point, "Do you really think people can find true love at seventeen?" Some variation of that, anyway. Ryan had heard everything from: "Don't you think you're a little young to be so committed?" to "Whoa, Dude! You must fuck around a lot!" 

Seth was great when people said shit like that. His boyfriend just took the conversational ball and ran it. "Well, yes, Ryan and I have been together for a long time, but we're Mormon, you see. We believe that Christ bonded us together for a reason. Let no man tear asunder what the Lord has put together," he'd say, and make the sign of the cross. That had gone over well on their cross-country road trip last summer. Ryan could still see a little scar where he'd hit his knee trying to get away from a rather large gentleman in Utah who'd overheard Seth saying it to a waitress at a pancake house. 

There were a whole bunch of other ones: "Well, yes. Ryan and I are like polar bears. They mate for life. As do penguins. And preying mantises. You don't want to get involved in a love triangle with those guys." 

Or, "Dude, you have no idea! It's like a jail sentence I can't get commuted." 

"Do we fuck around? We don't even fuck each other, man. We're waiting to be able to do it under the sanctity of marriage vows." The last one he generally saved for gay bars. 

So when they were out together, Ryan let Seth handle those questions, just because it was too much fun not to. When he was alone, he just usually nodded and said yeah. 

Molly had thrown him off a little, though. Because, honestly, it was impressive, and he was proud of it. His parents had only lasted four years, and from what Trey and his mom had said, they'd been a lousy four years. And most people his age moved from person to person, always looking for something better. Ryan didn't need to meet anybody else to know that Seth was it for him. As Seth had said when they'd talked about it once: "We're from Newport. We don't comparison shop. Hell, we don't even price check." 

So he nodded at her, leaning back in his chair. "It's not bad, yeah." 

"How old are you?" 

"I'm twenty-one. We got serious the summer before senior year." 

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "You were together casually before that?" 

"Let's just say there was a year of foreplay." 

"So you've been in love with him, what, since you were sixteen?" 

He thought about Seth sitting in front of the PlayStation, extending the controller out to Ryan. "Yeah." 

"Most people don't believe you can find your true love in high school." Ah, there it was. He was prepared to shrug it off, when she added, "You must be a romantic." 

Well, no. "I think it's just the opposite, actually. Romanticism implies blind devotion, Trying for love over and over again, believing that the true thing lies just around the next corner. I'm a realist: I met the one person I want to be with forever at sixteen. It's never going to get any better than this." Ryan realized he was giving a speech, and stopped abruptly. It had only taken five years for him to turn into Seth. Ryan had given it at least seven. 

She grinned at him. "When's your anniversary?" 

"August 18th," he replied, grinning back. Not only was she chatty, she was bright. He was going to enjoy working with her. She'd probably get along with Seth, too. They could have her over for dinner, introduce her to some friends. Oh, God, he was trying to think of ways to make her life better and he'd only known her for a week. He might as well just change his last name to Cohen, since he clearly was one in every other way. 

"No, you're not a romantic at all. What's his name?" 

"Seth." 

"So you and Seth met in high school?" 

"Kinda." That played a lot better than, 'well, his parents adopted me, so, technically, he was my brother. Technically.' Even people who didn't have a problem with the gay thing looked a bit askance at the related-but-not-really part. Seth liked to play with that too, and talk about their Big Gay Incestuous Love. Kristen had instituted a gag rule on that after a particularly memorable dinner party with some new clients. 

"I know I'm asking like a million questions, Ryan, but I'm surprised. You aren't the kind of guy I thought you were." 

"What did kind of guy did you think I was?" 

She laughed. "Well, I thought you were straight, for one. Really straight. Serious, quiet. Maybe a bit too intense. And, honestly, maybe a bit lonely." 

He smiled. Seth would agree with most of that. "I'm not lonely," he said. 

"No, I guess you aren't." Molly picked up her bag. "Wanna walk out with me?" 

Ryan looked at his desk. It was Friday afternoon. The sun was shining. He and Seth were supposed to go to get together with some friends for dinner, but maybe if he got home early enough they could take a walk, pick up the new Titans. Or maybe they could just lounge around in bed for a while. They'd gotten very adept at stealing whatever time they could to be together, since they were both so busy. Seth had started referring to free time as 'naked time,' and Ryan wasn't inclined to differ with him about that. And while he didn't want to start slacking at work, there really wasn't anything that couldn't wait until Monday. "Yeah. Just let me make a call." If Seth was still on campus, Ryan could swing by and pick him up, save him the walk home. The ten-minute walk home. Yeah. All right, sometimes Ryan just wanted to hear Seth's voice. 

* 

Merry Chrismukkah! I hope you enjoyed it! 

 


End file.
